Gary Clarke Company: Detention review – horror and humour in stand against Section 28
Yet while Detention is about the effects of homophobia, it's most strikingly a celebration of solidarity. A community cast of older LGBTQ+ people are deftly sewn into the show, some of whom were active in LGSM (Lesbians and Gays Support the Miners, as seen in the film Pride). Others play the role of volunteers at the London Lesbian and Gay Switchboard, a lifeline for many, sitting at a desk with a rotary dial phone: 'Hello, Lesbian and Gay Switchboard, how can I help?' We hear text based on genuine calls from the switchboard's logbook – a young man thrown out of home, a woman scared she'll lose her children, a man diagnosed with HIV – and watch the dancers' bodies trapped or in turmoil, eaten up with anxiety.
Clarke's work has been called 'dance-documentary'. It's activism, but it's also drama, and Clarke's sense of structure and storytelling is sound, the dancing is full of dynamism and urgency, sweeping us through the scenes. Most moving is a duet right at the start that embodies the impact of Aids, two men in a clinch that somehow morphs from romance to struggle to one partner desperately supporting his dying lover; flirtation to tragedy in the space of one dance.
Like a darker, dancier version of It's a Sin, Detention is hard-hitting but laced with humour. It's a portrait of a particular period in time that still echoes down the decades.
Touring until 15 October
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